Lessons from APRIL Group’s Corporate Sustainability Female Warrior

Today is Kartini Day and in the spirit of celebrating female leadership, we would like to highlight one of APRIL’s inspirational female figures: Triana Krisandini, APRIL’s Assistant Director of Sustainability.

Triana’s hard work in sustainability was just recognised earlier this year with the prestigious ‘Corporate Sustainability Warrior’ award from the Indonesia Business Council for Sustainability Development (IBCSD).

The Corporate Sustainability Warrior award is given to sustainable business activists in Indonesia who have shown consistency in the ongoing mission to make the world a better place. It specifically recognizes those who often create business strategies by taking the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into consideration, as often echoed by the IBCSD.

Before joining APRIL Group, Triana graduated from the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University, and worked as special assistant to the Ambassador / Permanent Representative of Indonesia to the United Nations, and Advisor to the Chairman of the Indonesian Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) in New York.

The 30-year-old has since then been part of the helm of all things sustainability-related at APRIL.

For Triana – who also heads recruitment for APRIL’s sustainability professional development programme ASPiRE - APRIL’s contribution in running a sustainable business should not only be through its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) program. The company should also be able to contribute towards sustainable development by focusing on the welfare of the entire community.

"Achievement of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is not only limited to CSR programs which are targeting external results. Rather, the SDGs should be integrated into actual business operations, like how APRIL is doing it,” said Triana, who was also the recipient of a WBCSD Leading Women Award in 2018.

"Sustainable business has changed from just something good to do, to something that every company must do. Therefore, we always move optimally in the effort to make it happen,” Triana added.

To her, companies must start to determine the right direction in realising sustainable development, and maintain transparency in the process of implementing a sustainable operational system. Additionally, it is important to promote dialogue with the right parties regarding sustainable business approach.

Triana added that she hopes that more companies will adopt a framework of SDGs as the basis of their operations in the future. Her view is to encourage a larger corporate sector to do business responsibly and align with environmental protection.

These days, Triana is also focusing on recruiting more young graduates to be trained as sustainability experts through the inspiring ASPiRE programme.

Her message for the younger generation – especially young women – seeking to embark a professional career in sustainability is simple: just do it.

“Sustainability is growing to be more and more popular and the work is not limited to only environmental protection. There’s a big chance to be female sustainability experts as long as you can maintain high self-confidence, work hard and dream big,” she said.

The IBCSD is an association of businesses in Indonesia who have the same commitment to sustainable development and businesses. APRIL Group was one of the six large companies which helped to found the association in 2011.